Given trade imbalance you could impose carbon tax on Chinese imports.

You could but they already planning for a greener future. CO2 is the least of the problems with burning anything (including coal in power plants).

https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-an...

China has piloted a number of carbon pricing schemes since 2013. It is introducing a nationwide scheme this year. https://www.reuters.com/article/climate-change-china-idUSL3N...